


awake and unafraid

by hopefulundertone



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-11
Updated: 2015-08-11
Packaged: 2018-04-14 04:29:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4550472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopefulundertone/pseuds/hopefulundertone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So Tyler and Josh end up in weird places. It's nothing new, and this wasn't the strangest place they'd wound up in, by far, nor even thanks to the strangest events. 2 am, snug in sleeping bags inside their van waiting for a tow truck and trying to catch some rest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	awake and unafraid

So Tyler and Josh end up in weird places. It's nothing new, not since the time Tyler had to call his mom because Josh had gotten his hand stuck in an operating machine for a ride in an abandoned amusement park in a neighbouring town from theirs, and Tyler had gotten his foot stuck in the ride itself. Eventually, his mom and dad and brother had arrived to rescue them and berate them heavily (fuss and worry over them), and they'd gone home, but that'd only been the start of it. For example, the time Tyler had tried to crawl under a stage venue to rig up a trapdoor for some dumb trick and found a secret tunnel off into an abandoned theatre that he and Josh just had to explore. They'd barely made it back in time for soundcheck, and Ben had been understandably grumpy, but he'd taken one look at their sweaty, delighted faces, and ridiculous costumes and capitulated.  
So, this wasn't the strangest place they'd wound up in, by far, nor even thanks to the strangest events. 2 am, snug in sleeping bags inside their van waiting for a tow truck and trying to catch some rest. There'd been a misplaced deer, and Josh had been going just slightly too fast to brake properly, and the next thing they knew, the van had spun off the road and crunched into a tree. The services they'd called would take hours to get there, so it was probably fortunate they didn't have a show the next day, but still. They were stuck in the middle of nowhere at an awful time of night, and the rest of their crew and equipment were at the venue already, and Josh couldn't seem to sleep at all.  
"Hey man, you okay?" Tyler's soft whisper startles him a little, but he manages to shift and wriggle until he's facing his friend. "I'm fine, didn't get hurt. You?"  
"Me neither, but that wasn't what I meant. You're usually out like a light, what gives?"  
Josh blinks and shrugs, but he's wrapped up in a sleeping bag and their stuff and Tyler's sleeping bag and Tyler all at once, so the shrug doesn't really work. It's okay, though. Tyler seems to get what he's saying, and after a minute, wriggles out of his sleeping bag. Josh watches with a mix of bemusement and passive confusion as Tyler untangles himself from the mess and crawls out the van. "You coming?" Then, of course, Josh has to untangle himself from the mess and crawl out the van. Tyler's set off across the flat plain of grass next to the road, so Josh is left to snag a blanket, lock the van and trail after him.  
It turns out Tyler's destination is a lonely bus shelter ten or so metres away from the van; it's just a roof and a bench. He's grabbing and pulling at the beams of the metal roof, and of course, being a crazy daredevil climber during shows does have its benefits,because Tyler's sitting up on the roof of the shelter beaming at him in no time. Josh hands him the blanket and sort of pushes-struggles-twists-flops his way onto the roof as well, and they pause for a moment, grinning at each other in mutual triumph and wriggling into better positions. They end up lying down completely, curled up together so that they fit. Tyler smiles at him, but it fades quickly, and he rolls on his back to stare at the sky, dotted with an infinite number of twinkling stars with an unreadable expression Josh has seen one too many times. It's the way he looks just before he writes a song about being terrified of something huge and inevitable and awful. (Josh remembers the night Tyler wrote heavydirtysoul. It's not an experience he wants to relive.) So Josh nudges him gently, slings an arm across his chest, and buries his head in Tyler's shoulder. It's not exactly the most comfortable of positions, but it's okay, because Tyler hugs Josh closer too, and smiles shakily, and some of that faraway fearfulness in his eyes go away, and when Josh leans up uncertainly, he meets him halfway, kissing him lightly.  
Well, it's not like it's a surprise, or anything, right? They joke about being together all the time, hug and cuddle and have telepathic chats, and it really isn't that big a deal. It's not like they're in a relationship now; they've always been. And it's not like it used to be Tyler-plus-Josh, and now it's Tyler-slash-Josh. It's just Tyler-and-Josh. Josh says this to Tyler, who giggles and kisses his cheek and pulls up the blanket around them, possibly at his rationale, possibly at his need for justification. Either way, Josh isn't really bothered, because he's tired and he loves Tyler and the many, many connotations of that word don't even scare him anymore.  
Josh drifts off somewhere around 4 am with Tyler's hand gently stroking his hair and Tyler's humming fading in and out, and wakes up to Tyler pulling at his leg, apparently having already gotten down.  
"The mechanics came and fixed our van, Josh, let's go. You can sleep more in the van."  
"Wait, what? You left me on the roof of the bus shelter?"  
"You looked so...restful. I couldn't wake you up like that."  
"You just did!"  
Tyler grins. "Point taken. Let's go."  
And they clamber back into their mess of a van and Tyler gets in the front seat, ready to drive, for which Josh is eternally grateful, because it means he gets to sleep more. He wraps his arms around Tyler's shoulders from behind the front seat and leans forward to sleepily kiss his ear. "I love you for driving."  
And Tyler laughs, and says, "I know."  
  
And in an hour or two, it's just another weird place Tyler and Josh ended up, and they carry on.

**Author's Note:**

> sorry for the trash


End file.
